Photo by the ever talented and lovely Marissa, who writes the most excellent Food in Jars.

It seems like eons ago, but on June 4 Ray, my dearest friend Rach and I served nearly 10 gallons of Bathtub Brewery’s homebrewed beer to a crowd of beer enthusiasts. And it was AWESOME.

We joined the BeerCamp crew earlier in the year, meeting 1-2 times a month at IndyHall where we would taste each others beer, chat and slowly figure out how we wanted the event to turn out (though really, Kelani, Johnny, Dave and Alex were the logistical masterminds behind ALL of it…we just made the libations!)

And then the first weekend of June rolled around and we hauled 4 cases of our bottled beer into the patio/garden area of the Jamaican Jerk Hut on South Street. We iced down some bottles, poured chilled beer into mammoth pitchers … and then got to drinking our fellow brewers’ beers during the VIP Brewers Hour.

Mel and Rach behind the table, working the crowd. Gotta love Rach's "Say wha?" face.

The three of us worked seamlessly as a team, with 2 people pouring while the other either cracked open bottles, ran to get food, or took a bathroom break. Rach and I attracted quite the crowd from time to time, and it was funny to see guys’ reactions to the fact that I was a brewer, not just a “table babe.” Ray and I fielded a fair amount of questions, and even Rach picked up enough lingo to explain what she was serving. We’ll make a brewer of her yet!

We served the much hailed Bee Sting and a new beer, simply named Cherry Wheat (recipe to be posted soon). We were happy with our offerings, but what blew us away was people coming up to the table and saying, “So we heard about this Bee Sting …” Say wha?! Apparently our fellow brewers were sending folks our way, heaving praise on our little hybrid pale ale. Talk about an awesome feeling.

Parker samples a Bee Sting as a friend looks on

And we surprised more than a few people with our Cherry Wheat. Typically you say “Cherry Wheat” and people shudder at the Robitussin-like memory of a bottle from Sam Adams. But our brew was far from that. Instead, it was light, wheaty and a balance of sweet and tart. Attendees were shocked and asked for seconds.

After sampling the beers of my fellow homebrewers throughout the night, I’m proud to say I was part of BeerCamp, and I’m pretty sure Ray would agree with me. Why at least half these brewers aren’t pro already floors me. What I was drinking that night was innovative and downright delicious.

Tom (far left) and the rest of his Big Spoon Brewery crew

Tom, from Big Spoon Brewery, brought his Wobbly Bass Brown, Mmmmm Creamy Milk Stout—and for the lucky—some bottles of his Russian Imperial Stout brewed with coffee. We were blown away and super happy when he took the Brewer’s Choice Award at the end of the night. People’s Choice Awards went to MelloProto Brewing’s Blood Orange Berliner aka B.ö.B., Saint Benjamin Brewing Co.’s Transcontinental (a California Common or “steam” beer) and B WeeRd Brew D’s CHOCRILLA, a stout brewed with sarsaparilla.

The food was fantastic, the beer superb and the company we kept was excellent. I can’t wait until the next BeerCamp Philly event!

Last 3 photos courtesy of Ray who isn’t in any photos because he was too busy taking them!

Brewfests, Homebrewing 3 Comments »

Photo by the ever talented and lovely Marissa, who writes one of my favorite canning blogs, Food in Jars.

Yeah, I know, we disappeared again. Bad homebrewers. BUT, during those 2.5 months, we brewed 10 gallons of beer, which we served to fest goers on Saturday for the 2011 BeerCamp Philly event. We had an AMAZING time and served possibly the best rendition of our Bee Sting Ale to date. Ray and I were incredibly proud of our beers and our fellow homebrewers.

I owe you our newest recipe, the Cherry Wheat Ale, which we touted as “NOT Robitussin—OR Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.” People loved its light, tart flavor. Perfect for summer.

So stay tuned!

Brewfests, Homebrewing 2 Comments »

I’ve been getting my bake on a lot (check out my new venture, Cupcake Friday), so when I came across a recipe for Ale and Pretzel Soft Caramels from Sprinkle Bakes, I knew I had to try it with some of our Extra Fancy Brown Ale.

Extra Fancy Brown Ale Pretzel Caramels
(adapted from Sprinkle Bakes original recipe)
Ingredients
1 12 oz. bottle of Extra Fancy Brown Ale
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup light corn syrup
1 8 oz. package pretzel rods, broken into 1 inch sections
Kosher or sea salt for light sprinkling
wax paper for wrapping caramels

Directions
In a small saucepan bring 1 cup of brown ale to a simmer and reduce to approximately 1/2 tbsp. This will take about 15-20 minutes and yield a concentrated ale flavoring. Set aside.

Butter a 13 x 9 inch pan and set aside. Combine remaining beer and all other ingredients except ale reduction in a heavy pot—I used an 8 quart stock pot to give the caramel plenty of room. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Butter will melt and mixture will begin to boil.

Continue to cook until candy thermometer reaches 244 degrees, this will take about 30 minutes.  You can test your caramel in a bowl of ice water to check the consistency.  It should form a firm ball.

When the correct temperature has been reached, stir in the ale reduction and remove from heat.  Pour into prepared pan and top with pretzel bits. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Cool for several hours or place in fridge until firm.  Remove caramel block from pan and turn pretzel-side up on a cutting board (if refrigerated, let caramel block warm up a little for easier cutting).  Cut around the pretzels into 1″ pieces.  Wrap caramels so they keep their shape.

This was my first time making caramel and it was pretty easy, though I don’t think I have true soft caramels—you have to hold them in your mouth a bit to get them to soften, but the flavor is nice. Not too sweet … I wonder if the brown ale helps with that at all?

As you can see in the photo to the right, I had a 9×13 brick of caramel with pretzels submerged. I had to do a bit of fighting to dislodge the caramel, then slowly but surely cut them into individual candies. Ray brought a container to IndyHall today, and I have a container for my coworkers, so it’ll be interesting to get their opinions on my confections.

Homebrewing, Recipes 1 Comment »

Creepy, crawly, creepy, crawly, creepy creepy, crawly crawly … oh Boris the Spider.

Brewed about a month and a half before our wedding, Boris the Spider Chai Oatmeal Stout was to be a thick chai spice monster. However, in my opinion, I’m not thrilled with it. The body is too thin and there could be more chai spicy goodness going on (also, the ABV is a bit lower than expected, hitting 5.4%. I think this could be a much bigger beer). Nonetheless, Ray, Ryan and a number of other folks really enjoy Boris, which is a good thing.

Ray
Appearance: Opaque, reddish brown. Fluffy beige head.

Nose: Chocolate, banana, spices.

Taste: Chocolate. Fruity sweetness. A lingering hint of spicy bitterness. Cardamom really pops.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied. Finishes very clean.

Overall: A really cool idea that played out nicely. The chai flavors really pop, especially the cardamom. I think I’d like to see the anise make a bolder statement, but other than that, I really like this.

Mel
Appearance: Thin beige head; deep brown with hints of ruby.

Nose: Chai spices, roast, a little woodiness.

Taste: Roasty sweetness—very, very, very dry, yet oddly refreshing; maybe a little estery from being in the guest bathroom, which suffers from fluctuating temperatures. Chai spice is balanced and not overwhelming; cardamom pops.

Mouthfeel: Light, dry and smooth.

Overall: A worthy experiment. If done again, I want a thicker, chewier mouthfeel and a bump up in chocolate notes. Currently, it’s too much like a dry stout. Maybe make it a milk stout so the creaminess plays up the spices, reflecting the traditional Indian beverage it’s based on.

Homebrewing, Tasting Comments Off

Ray and Mel at GABF 2010

Another year winds down, but instead of wondering where the year went, I’m glad to see 2010 scoot its butt out the door. I’m ready to welcome 2011 and all it has to offer.

2010 was a quieter year for our homebrewing. Our wedding was in November 2009, so we took time off from brewing for that. Surprisingly, we only brewed twice in 2010: the Extra Fancy Brown Ale (which we have yet to review) and the  Bee Sting Ale, one of our favorite recipes from 2009. We also had friends over for a brew day, so they could experience what goes into making our favorite fermented beverage. We had an awesome time, and once we got the Bee Sting into the bottle and carbonated (yes, it took us 3.5 months to get the damn thing bottled), we knew we had a winner on our hands.

So why did we homebrew less? There were a number of factors.

• A little bit of brewing burnout
• Ray began working toward becoming a full-time indie game developer
• We had so much beer aging that there was barely any room to put it
• The condo went on the market

I’m also a firm believer in not forcing myself to do something when I’m not feeling up to it. And in the earlier part of the year, I just wasn’t feeling like homebrewing and writing about it. But the spring arrived, we brewed the brown ale, then summer came, we brewed the Bee Sting, and as Ray got more and more involved with his first game, he had less time. So, it was up to me to take the reins of Bathtub Brewery, and I think it’s worked well.

Ray’s still here. He does all the tastings with me and sometimes even pops in with a video. And that works. We’re still a homebrewing team — I just do the writing now.

On top of that, I joined the Ladies of Craft Beer as a contributor, offering reviews of craft beer, homebrewing advice, cooking/baking with beer recipes and an occasional opinion piece now and then. It feels good to be part of a community of women teaching other women about craft beer.

Though 2010 may have been a quiet year for our homebrewing, it was anything but quiet in regard to the beer festivals we attended. We kicked the year off with the High Street Grill Winterfest, which was unfortunately crowded, cold and too short. But our friends Ryan and LeeAnne came with us and we had fun nonetheless.

In May, we made it back to one of our favorite fests, the The Brandywine Valley’s Craft Brewers Festival at Iron Hill in Media. The fest was great as always, and Ray even managed to get video of me snagging a sample of one of the two rare beers Iron Hill Media poured into the frenzied crowd (for the record, I managed to snag samples of both).

In June, we attended SAVOR with Ryan in tow. The beers were excellent, the food was meh, and now we have to decide if the festival is worth its $95 ticket price for 2011.

July saw us stumbling into the Royal Stumble with Ryan, LeeAnne and a whole horde of revelers. As always, the Stumble was excellent, and topped off by a few roller derby bouts.

In August, we sent a bottle of our Barleywine with the Dish Trip crew to have it delivered to Charlie at Harpoon Brewery in Boston. Apparently he liked it, a lot.

September was our busy month. Before leaving for Denver, I represented Sly Fox at Geraghty’s Fall Beer and Food Fest, seeing first hand what it was like to be behind the table at a fest. Then we hopped on a plane and did a crapload of amazing things in Denver, including attending our first GABF. Wow wow wow!

Earlier this month, Ray and I attended a Philly Food Bloggers Potluck, where we chatted with Amanda Hesser about homebewing, served her, Dave from Victory Beer and some of the guests our beer. To say our homebrews were well-received is an understatement.

Huh. Looking at this mammoth post, I guess you could say that we didn’t have that quiet of a year. We may have scaled back on our brewing, but we were out in full force participating in the craft beer community.

As for 2011, we already have a Dubbel on the docket — now we just need to write the recipe. We may never get back to brewing monthly, but I think we will get back to brewing when the creativity strikes. That’s not a bad thing.

Happy New Year!

Craft Beer, Homebrewing, Miscellany 1 Comment »

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

This past Wednesday night, Ray and I attended The Essential New York Times Cookbook Philly Food Blogger Potluck and Book Signing, hosted by NYT food columnist and food52 founder Amanda Hesser, Audra Wolfe of Doris and Jilly Cook, Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars and Victory Brewing. Attendees were encouraged to bring their favorite dish from the NYT, whether it be the paper, a cookbook, or even the newest cookbook.

I selected a Devil’s Food Cake cupcake recipe to reflect my baking blog, MelBee Says…, but decided that I needed something to reflect Bathtub and my writings for the Ladies of Craft Beer. After checking with lovely PR gal extraordinaire Katarina that I wouldn’t be stepping on Victory’s toes, I decided to bring some of our homebrews.

A six-pack of this year’s Bee Sting and a bomber each of the Barleywine and Ginpel traveled alongside the cupcakes. And suffice to say, I think the homebrews were a bigger hit.

The first shocker of the night was when Amanda came over to chat a bit—I did my best to keep my cool, sipping Storm King and devouring Derek’s Sesame Noodles topped with peanuts. We discussed the dish, Ray’s peanut allergy, and then somehow got onto the topic of beer and homebrews. Ray and I chattered at her about the joys of homebrewing and she seemed genuinely interested, asking questions.

We also met Dave, online media guru for Victory, and got to talking about homebrewing and craft beer in general. It wasn’t long before bottles of Bee Sting were cracked open, red silo cups were partially filled and our own mini tasting began as other food bloggers, unaware of the huddle by the beer table, ate myriad NYT dishes and traded blog URLs. Dave was blown away by the Bee Sting, as was our newly-made homebrewing friend Christina. A few other party-goers became wise to the growing group of people around the drinks table and more cups were passed around.

Ray then cracked open the Ginpel. Our friend Jen requested that it’s aroma be made into a perfume. Others complimented the nose, and Ray realized that the bomber seemed more mellow than the 12 oz bottle we had shared for our tasting earlier in the week. More cups were passed around.
At one point, someone shepherded Amanda over, and a sample of Bee Sting was poured for her. She liked it, and even said so later on Twitter(!)

Dave also gave our homebrews a shoutout via Twitter the next day, but what he said before the end of the evening still rings in my ears. After trying the Barleywine and beginning to pack up his table, he told Ray and me that we had it in us to go pro. He complimented our skill and noted our passion for beer. I was probably grinning like an idiot, but it felt so good to be paid such a high compliment. What a night!

Homebrewing, Miscellany 2 Comments »

Approximately a year and 3 months ago, we brewed the Ginpel; a Frankenstein of a beer, inspired by Ray pouring a shot of Dogfishhead’s Jin into our homebrewed Tripel.

While we’ve been drinking the Ginpel, I always found it to be too strong in juniper and alcohol flavor. But today we decided it was time to crack one open, and I’m glad we did.

Unlike our usual tastings, there was only one 12 oz bottle of Ginpel in the fridge, so we split it (instead of the usual bottle apiece). It seems when Ray poured the beer, a bit of sediment got in my glass, which is reflected in the separated tasting notes below.

TOP OF THE BOTTLE (Ray)
Appearance: Bright golden orange. Clear. Thin, white head.

Nose: Mainly juniper. Some citrus and spices as well, but the biggest note is the juniper.

Taste: Lots of juniper and fruity candy sweetness. Subtle clove, citrus, and rosemary notes.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium and very smooth.

Overall: Definitely a little heavy handed on the juniper, still evident even a year plus later. Can’t decide whether it nails the gin/tripel so well despite or because of the extra juniper. Worth doing again with less juniper, regardless, if only to let the other spices show themselves.

BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE (Mel)
Appearance: Thin white head, deep amber in color, slightly hazy.

Nose: Very herbal. The juniper pops, and there are hints of sweetness and citrus.

Flavor: Herbs and spices dominate (makes me think this would be good to cook with). Very smooth. Alcohol taste has mellowed considerably—this does not taste like a 11.4% ABV beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium and smooth; a little dry.

Overall: I’m happy to see how much this beer has mellowed. The juniper still dominates, and the recipe could benefit from it being scaled back a bit. I think this is a beer that a straight-gin drinker would really enjoy.

Homebrewing, Tasting 2 Comments »

Mel, literally in the Bathtub Brewery

Hopefully you’ve been keeping track of all the great stuff over on the Ladies of Craft Beer website, where it seems I’ve been doing most of my writing (I haven’t forgotten you!). We’ve got some great beer reviews, homebrewing tips, opinion pieces and more. On top of ALL of that (and that’s a lot!), Stevie, founder and big cheese over at LadiesOCB has started a Women in Beer Series.

Stevie has reached out to all the LadiesOCB contributors, as well as a number of women in the thick of the craft beer industry. I think it’ll be a really exciting series, and yesterday I was featured! Talk about excitement.

So head over to the LadiesOCB website and check it out for yourselves.

Craft Beer, Homebrewing, Miscellany 1 Comment »

THE best way to sanitize our beer bottles. Fill the dishwasher, skip the soap, and put it on heated dry.

Back on Memorial Day, we had a bunch of friends over to experience the joys of a brew day, brewing the Bee Sting Ale Redux. Pizza was made and eaten. Malts and hops were passed around and sniffed. Ryan even had the opportunity to stir the brew kettle as I added 2 pounds of orange blossom honey. It was a great time.

That was also 3.5 months ago. Yes, we let the Bee Sting hang out in the carboy that long—now, admittedly, we transferred from the primary to the secondary in about a week. And then it sat as I fumbled around with my seeds of paradise tea recipe. Then I added the tea, and it sat some more. A lot more.

Was all this time in the secondary necessary? Absolutely not. But we got busy prepping the condo for sale and doing the typical summer things, and unlike a screaming baby or yowling cat, it sat quietly in the bathtub of the guest bathroom, patiently waiting.

The same friends who joined us for brew day would ask about it time and again, but even that stopped. I think they forgot they were even over for brew day. And so Ray and I decided to bottle the damn thing, finally.

Mel wields the bottling wand on bottling day.

Ray became a little concerned about the beer, because we’ve never let a homebrew sit this long in the secondary. He took a sample and did a reading with our refractometer. The good news: the beer had finished even more so, coming in at a lower gravity and an ABV of 6.1%. I liked the sound of that. We both tasted the sample as well. Yup. Tasted like the original Bee Sting Ale, maybe with a slightly drier finish. I won’t complain.

And so it was bottled, yielding 50 12 oz bottles. Our friends will get a 4-pack each. While this might have been a nice beer to have on hand during the hot summer months, I like to think of it as my little bottle of summer and sunshine that can get me through the dark and cold winter ahead.

Homebrewing 2 Comments »

We brewed the Barleywine back on July 18, 2009. It’s over a year old at this point, and wow, has it aged well. During our tasting session the other night, Ray asked me when we brewed this. When I told him last July, he nearly did a spit-take of the precious liquid. Time flies when you’re working on myriad other projects, I suppose. It’s also our first beer without a fancy-schmancy name.

Appearance: Orangeish. amber brown. Opaquely cloudy. Thick, fluffy, off-white head.

Nose: Lots of dried fruit, caramel, malt and molasses. Slight hint of alcohol

Taste: Caramel, plum, fig, raisin. Very little bitterness. A bit of yeasty breadiness.

Mouthfeel: Creamy smooth with a CO2 bite.

Overall: We’re glad we let this sit and stew for a year before sitting down to do a formal tasting. When we first bottled, it had a distinct, flowery hoppiness and brightness that Ray felt was out of place for the type of barleywine we wanted to make. After a year of aging, it’s transformed into exactly what we wanted it to be. It has a great sophistication to it.

This was also the beer we sent up to Boston when The Town Dish headed up there for its “Dish on the Fly.” A bottle of the Barleywine was given to Charlie Cummings, brewer of Harpoon Brewery, who is also a homebrewer. We haven’t gotten any feedback from him yet, but if he’s tried it, I’d love to hear from him.

So, the Barleywine. Our first year-plus aged beer that has mellowed, ripened and come out strong. Maybe we should stash a bottle and open it next July.

Homebrewing, Tasting 3 Comments »